The monetary value or price of a project activity or component that includes the monetary worth of the resources required to perform and complete the activity or component, or to produce the component. A specific cost can be composed of a combination of cost components, including direct labor hours, other direct costs, indirect labor hours, other indirect costs, and purchased price. (However, in the earned value management methodology, in some instances, the term cost can represent only labor hours without conversion to monetary worth.) See also actual cost and estimate.